Ars takes a look at the tools of the surveillance trade

We also talk about the merits of purple and Google's new real-life delivery service.

This week, as revelations about the extent of National Security Agency (NSA) spying continued to unfold, Ryan Gallagher brought us an article about the types of hardware that agencies outside of the NSA use to gather information from mobile devices. These agencies, which include local law enforcement as well as federal groups like the FBI and the DEA, use highly specialized equipment to gain information about a target. Still, the details about that hardware is largely kept secret from the public. Gallagher summed up what the public knows (and brought to light a few lesser-known facts) in his article, Meet the machines that steal your phone’s data.

Seraphiel got into the conversation relatively early with a question: "I wonder if there are methods (or even could be) to detect these things being used against your phone, and then DOS them or in some other way disrupt their function?" Threz_ made the inquiry more specific: "I wonder if it is possible to develop a custom Android ROM that allows you to whitelist towers that your phone will connect to. It seems like many of the devices in this article trick you into connecting to them in order to intercept your details/calls/sms/whatever. It would be inconvenient if you travel, but it wouldn't take too long to whitelist the towers in your area if you don't head out too much." And beebee advocated a more low-tech approach: "There is this thing called a battery. Remove it if you want to be sure the phone isn't finking you out. If you can't pull your battery, hey, it is your own fault for buying a phone with a captive battery."

Of disillusioned commenters, there were many. As ColdWetDog said, "it's long past trying to pretend that ANY public cell phone service, or in fact any public service, either over the air or wireline, is secure in any way, shape, or form. Just speak slowly and clearly so they can understand what you're saying."

But some, rather than being appalled, had hardware lust. "So how come none of this stuff shows up in the Wednesday Dealmaster list at a discount?" wrote pjl123. "I am a Harris equipment nerd," wrote dtich, "always wanted one of their falcon radios. They are like 40K and of course classified. So no chance of that, and then—lo and behold—I saw one in the recent tom cruise pretty-alright-futurama, Oblivion. Cool."

It’s gonna be hue-ge

Check out those soothing violet hues.

Microsoft

Microsoft also unveiled its two Surface 2 tablets this week, along with brand new keyboard covers in a line of cool soothing colors. Peter Bright brought us the relevant details in his article, First look at the new keyboards, dock, and other Surface accessories. Peter, it should be noted, loved the purple keyboard cover more than any of the accessories. "Type Cover 2 improves on the already excellent Type Cover in a truly important way: it's available in purple," he wrote. "There are some other colors too, but I don't care about them, because it's available in purple, and purple is honestly the best color ever invented. The switches have also been redesigned to make the cover 1mm thinner than before and virtually silent in operation."

Our readers had a lot to say about the untrammeled enthusiasm for purple. "Wow, so cool that Peter seems to genuinely like something about the Surface. And it only took a little colored dye to make a difference!" wrote SilverSee.

Joshua Fan shared the love: "On the electromagnetic spectrum, purple is higher energy and has more hertz, clearly making it superior to other visible colors. The only downside is its shorter wavelength." And ws3 saw beyond wavelength. "Someday someone will figure out how to make a color with both more hertz and a larger wavelength.
That will be the awesomest color ever."

I just wish the OS didn't feel like it was having an identity crisis. Windows 8's touch functionality on a desktop is unhelpful while having to go into the Desktop App in RT feels like some sort of developer backdoor no normal consumer should need. Synergy is good, they just need to look like they're intending to leverage their own strengths. ...

[T]he keyboards are nice. If you're not in the mood to tap the screen you can just flip the thing out. The price felt high to me but the functionality is certainly nice when you actually want to type something up (even just e-mail). Only big disappointment was the lack of caps lock indication and the OS could have taken care of that though the keyboard LED... Back lit keys able to take in gestures [are] gravy.

solarium_rider had the best personal take on the new service, having used GSE for the past 4-5 months (click the link to the original comment to see the long version):

I've been using GSE for about 4-5 months now. I didn't use it much the first few months I had it, but I find I use it about once a week now for items. Initially, I just was used to buying items at stores or at amazon, so I didn't even think twice about it.

Then, one day I found I could by food for my 1-year-old on there and it made it quite easy. Normally, if I'm at home watching my son, and find that our household is running low in food for him, I would have to go out and make a trip to the store. This would involve getting the diaper bag ready and in the car, putting my child in his car seat, lugging the car seat into the back of my 2 door car, putting a stroller in my car, driving to a store that sells baby food (the Lucky's near me has a poor selection,) getting him out of the car and into the stroller, go into the store, procure items, wait in line, checkout, and reverse the procedure to go home. Ordering this stuff online has made it so I can spend more meaningful time with him.

alj_ars shared a different perspective: "What is developing very fast here (in France) is online ordering and drive-thru picking at Walmart equivalent stores. This started with existing stores but with success at some locations, they are building dedicated drive-thru stores. Unlike delivery or catering services, this is totally free and allow fresh products. You can pick the items after 3 hours at a scheduled time."

Others questioned whether such a delivery service was more or less efficient than traditional methods of shopping. "Three automobile deliveries for $27 worth of small items, including one delivery for two packages of Blistex.
Sounds like a win for the environment to me," wrote ws3. But saodvnsidonwejf disagreed, "Well it probably replaces 3 trips he would've made to get the items himself, so in that sense it doesn't add any extra traffic. Also, the cars obviously carry more than one person's delivery, so they probably take more cars off the road than they add. It's starting to sound like a win to me indeed."

nathand496 wanted to dispense with the notion of cars altogether: "I don't mean for this to be snarky, but doesn't San Jose have bicycle delivery services for this kind of stuff? For example, something like Rock It. They'll deliver anything."

And Sputnik took the opportunity to dream big: "That logo with the parachute instantly got me thinking how cool (and probably unfeasible) copter drone or VTVL delivery would be for this."

No keep them. I really like these articles. I do not follow all comment threads, nor do I read all articles posted. Very often these ones highlight things I have missed. I would not mind if there were more of these, but not more than 3 per week (2 might be the sweet spot).

" As ColdWetDog said, "it's long past trying to pretend that ANY public cell phone service, or in fact any public service, either over the air or wireline, is secure in any way, shape, or form. Just speak slowly and clearly so they can understand what you're saying."

You're on a dangerous slope to assume this. The "expectation of privacy" is a major tenet of law and court rulings that deny government intrusion. To assume that you have no privacy because of some NSA snooping invites surveillance to become more widespread "because everyone assumes they spy on us." Which might be part of the strategy of those who want this.